EVALUATION ON SPECIAL PARTS ON MY SEELEY CDO

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yves norton seeley

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hi,
maybe some of you can be intrested in my evaluation on special parts on my Seeeley Commando:

Note: I don't wish to have the fasted road going on the world, but I wish power and most of all REALIBILITY
I ride 10.000 kms the year, only on public roads, with the Seeley, mostly between 4.500 and 6.500 RPM, I don't own a Seeley to hold it at max 3.000 RPM.
Of course I did not made this changes at once, my experience is that if you wish to gain power and realibility, you need to do more as rising the CR and put a other camshaft, if you don't wish to have engine salad on the tarmac you will need to change almost all the parts and pray the Lord every time you rev up
Also don't believe that you will gain 10 HP with changing only a few parts, the most of the time you only move the power band. HP are so difficult to find...
They main tink is to find a harmony between all this different parts.
Every time I broke some parts on my engine, I replace it with higher quality, with as end result that the engine only look like a Commando at the moment and don't ask me how mutch $ I spend,
I stop counting at 25.000 $ and I still don't reach the end at the moment, It is like a drug, I will never stop.
Don't think that I am Rockefeller, I have to work very hard for every cent I spend.
You will see that my evaluation are very high, but keep in mind that I try cheep parts before, and was not satisfied
The rule is: cheep can be very expensive

The frame:
It is a Seeley MK 3 replica made by Roger Titchmarch: No: 008
It is amasing how you can make sutch a light frame with a fantastic road holding with only a few Reynolds 531 tubing, great design M. Collin Seeley!
I put the footrest 2.5 cms lower for more confort,when you are cornering hard you will tuch your boots on the ground, that will say: time to keep it safe...
The forks are shortened Commando's, front brake is the kit from RGM, triple trees are from Minnovation, shock absorbers are from Ohlins, half top fairing is a Commando PR, tires are Bridgestone Batlax 45, I own two fuel tanks, the original with 2.5 gallons and the Manks version with 4 gallons.
My comments: fantastic road holding, forgive every mistake from the rider, the bike is light and low and is a real beauty.
Evaluation 10/10

The gearbox:
It is a TTI 5 speed road model, with almost 50.000 kms, never have a problem! The first gear is a bit longer as the original Commando, so the four other gears are closer, very fun to play with it and keep the rev's high in every corner.
I put a longer foulded kick starter on it, more nice as the original one
Evaluation 10/10

The engine:

The crank:
The last change I made is the crank from JS motorsport , a billet one piece steel crank, a piece of mecanical art. Same weight as the original
I have only 3.000 kms with the crank, so far my evaluation :10/10

The rods and pistons:
Longer Carillo's rods from JS Motorsport with high compression lightweight pistons, I keep the CR at 9.8 / 1, this winter I will go for 10.5/1. The pistons are 100 grams lighter each as the Maney's
It is true that you have almost no vibes any more, the engine is runing so smooth now.
I put the rod's and pistons togheter with the JS crank, so far my evaluation 10/10

The valve train:
The entire valve train is from JS, valves are original sizes, the camshaft is a JS stage 2 B, with the beehive valve springs and lighter puchers, I feel so confident now when I rev up.
Between 4.500 and 6.500 it is like you put the post combustion on it
The sound is like a partition from Beetoven with the Maney's two in one exhaust, the song of joy for a vertical twin!
Evaluation after 6.000 kms: 10/10

The crankcases:
Steve Maney of course, It will never broke I think, when I broke the original crank, there was a light crack in the cases, the welder says: good quality of the alloy.
Never a oil leak or any problem at all, just keep a eye on the camshaft bushing.
Evaluation 9 /10 becouse of the camshaft bushings.


The cylinder:
Steve Maney aluminium, put it on your engine and forget it, to me the sleeves are soft, with more as 50.000 kms I have to change the sleeves once, I plan to give the sleeves a surface treatment like Nicasil this winter.
Evaluation 10/10

The head:
Fullauto what else, the mecanical perfection, no porosity, no oil leaks, powerfull even with original valves sizes, I plan to ship the head to Jim Comnoz this winter for bigger valves and flowing
I am using the original head gasket with a squish at 1.7 mm.
I buy the head from CNW
Evaluation 15/10

The carbs and manifold:
Keihin FCR 35 mm fro Matt from CNW I have this carbs almost 50.000 kms. They arrive with a way to ritch setting, and believe me it is not easy to find the good setting, so many ways to change
the setting: main jet, pilot jet, main air jet, pilot air jet, pilot air screw, pilot fuel screw lot of needels and so on. maybe the original setting was good for a stock engine but not for mine.
It take me a lot of time to find the good setting, but when you gat it: wonderfull, no flat spot at all, no problems with starting
Keep a eye on the needel tube, when at once you are to ritch around 4.500 RPM, put new tubes and problem solved.
Two evaluation:
Setting even with a dyno, difficult! 7/10
Power: 10:10

The ignition:
Tri Spark MK 2, very good, before I was using a Tri Spark MK1 and it broke two times, so I go to Pazon, and was very satsified, the day that Tri Spark was there with the MK 2, I give them a second chance, and I can tell you the MK 2 is amazing, I use the coil from CNW and I never have to give two kicks to start the engine, some time I put the kick slowly down to find the compression and the engine start! The setting is 28 degrees.
Evaluation:
Tri Spark MK 1: 2/10
Pazon/ 9/10
Tri Sark MK 2: 10/10

The Exhaust:
Maney two in one, powerfull, a must to have, I have to make two new headers becouse the original broke, the new one are stainless and sleeved at the head. Keep in mind that the Maney was not made for a Seeley frame, and you have to made some changes to fit it.
But what a sound...
Evaluation 9/10

Alternator:
Sparks tri phases, very good, only the wires brokes at the stator, but you can repare it.
Evaluation 8/10

So, I forgot a lot of other parts I think. Feel free to ask me for more details
I wish to thanks some persons , like Franky Jordens the britsh bike spacialist here in Belgium,
Matt from CNW, Jim Smidt from JS motorsport, Jim Comnoz, Bert Smet and many others, without them, no Seeley!

Yves Belgium
Evaluation: 8/10
 
Great and detailed post of a top line cafe racer. Here's a couple photos I have of Yves bike.

EVALUATION ON SPECIAL PARTS ON MY SEELEY CDO


EVALUATION ON SPECIAL PARTS ON MY SEELEY CDO
 
That's brilliant feedback Yves, and very interesting reading too.

One quick point, regarding the liners in the barrels, unless I am mistaken, I do not think that Nickasil is the correct process for steel / iron liners. You might want to try Laystall Engineering in the UK who apply a carbide treatment that makes the liners super hard wearing. They can apply to used bores, and no honing etc is required afterwards. Contact Dave Kelly: dave.kelly@laystall.co.uk

Also one question for you, why did you not go to 920cc with the Maney barrels? I'm just curious as to your thinking.
 
Fast Eddie said:
That's brilliant feedback Yves, and very interesting reading too.

One quick point, regarding the liners in the barrels, unless I am mistaken, I do not think that Nickasil is the correct process for steel / iron liners. You might want to try Laystall Engineering in the UK who apply a carbide treatment that makes the liners super hard wearing. They can apply to used bores, and no honing etc is required afterwards. Contact Dave Kelly: dave.kelly@laystall.co.uk

Also one question for you, why did you not go to 920cc with the Maney barrels? I'm just curious as to your thinking.

Following the advise from the representative from Nickasil here in Belgium it must be possible to do it..;
Do you try carbide?
What is your experience with 920cc, you need to work on the head if you do this?
 
yves norton seeley said:
Fast Eddie said:
That's brilliant feedback Yves, and very interesting reading too.

One quick point, regarding the liners in the barrels, unless I am mistaken, I do not think that Nickasil is the correct process for steel / iron liners. You might want to try Laystall Engineering in the UK who apply a carbide treatment that makes the liners super hard wearing. They can apply to used bores, and no honing etc is required afterwards. Contact Dave Kelly: dave.kelly@laystall.co.uk

Also one question for you, why did you not go to 920cc with the Maney barrels? I'm just curious as to your thinking.

Following the advise from the representative from Nickasil here in Belgium it must be possible to do it..;
Do you try carbide?
What is your experience with 920cc, you need to work on the head if you do this?

Fair enough there Yves, I'm not gonna argue with Mr Nickasil!

I plan on trying the carbide treatment this winter. I've heard good reports from people using it, but no first hand experience.

Nor do I have any experience with a 920, my motor is similar to yours actually, an 850 with: JS rods and pistons (10.5:1), JS1 cam and followers, beehive springs, Tri spark and 35mm FCRs. I decided against 920 as it just looks like there's not quite enough metal / space there to me. Maybe I'm just chicken!
I'm fitting a Comstock ported Full Auto head this winter. And am changing to a Maney belt drive (just arrived today) as I wish to raise the primary bearing.
 
Hope you and your hot rod live long enough to get some pay back in spades.
If not for what tri-links did for EXcessive Power handling at extremes of lean and sharpness on rough gusty angled surfaces in tight bind narrows, beyond what I could even approach on fatso heated race tire moderns to tolerate, I stopped counting Peel's beans after 35 grand to get the most i can ahead of the elite modern racer snobs. Only ones that will end up spending more than hobot on their Nortions end up with something not fit or able or legal to take on or off road in public. IF top speeds limited to 135 mph Peel didn't need but good ole mostly factory Combat power to leave em all behind in a turn so no way to catch up before next turn leaves em out of sight and so little effort to do so I"m refreshed not worn out athletically --- but for the fighter pilot breath control not to black out on the G spikes. Every single video of racers putting foot, elbow or body down to save an over leaned turn have actually lost tire contact control and accelerating traction in those states, but not Ms Peel - just lacking more power to do it even harsher faster. Realize that most fun way to enter turns on Peel was to get into power band so rear was fish tailing like a dragster before leaning which instant i did tip Peel even a litee would trip her into a low side crash to take steering effort off pilot. This occurs in the zone everyone else is hard on brake so extra fun dodging around the slow moving parking lot cones so accelerating fast they could not even react to hit me if they tried. BFD if power enough to break under 10 sec 1/4 miles - if can't hook it up when matters the most. I've lost respect for the power rockets that are only good for one thing but still take so long to get going/wheelie/traction control restricted its not going to matter to next Peel. Elite race bikes are now so uncontrollable to allow just a pilot to work them 'safely' >> not Ms Peel. Pure power ani't nearly enough fun for me anymore.
 
Fast Eddie said:
That's brilliant feedback Yves, and very interesting reading too.

One quick point, regarding the liners in the barrels, unless I am mistaken, I do not think that Nickasil is the correct process for steel / iron liners. You might want to try Laystall Engineering in the UK who apply a carbide treatment that makes the liners super hard wearing. They can apply to used bores, and no honing etc is required afterwards. Contact Dave Kelly: dave.kelly@laystall.co.uk

Also one question for you, why did you not go to 920cc with the Maney barrels? I'm just curious as to your thinking.
In the States I've had Al cylinders with ferrous sleeves Nikasil coated by Millenium in Wisocnsin. In the earlier days I definitely heard of instances with ferrous sleeves where the Nikasil was applied too heavy or the surface preparation of the liner was inadequate and adhesion issues resulted, i.e., the Nikasil coating flaked off. To the best of my knowledge, this issue was resolved long ago and Nikasil on ferrous sleeves is fine to do. But call Millenium for the full story if you're interested.

Broken link removed
 
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WZ507 said:
Fast Eddie said:
That's brilliant feedback Yves, and very interesting reading too.

One quick point, regarding the liners in the barrels, unless I am mistaken, I do not think that Nickasil is the correct process for steel / iron liners. You might want to try Laystall Engineering in the UK who apply a carbide treatment that makes the liners super hard wearing. They can apply to used bores, and no honing etc is required afterwards. Contact Dave Kelly: dave.kelly@laystall.co.uk

Also one question for you, why did you not go to 920cc with the Maney barrels? I'm just curious as to your thinking.
In the States I've had Al cylinders with ferrous sleeves Nikasil coated by Millenium in Wisocnsin. In the earlier days I definitely heard of instances with ferrous sleeves where the Nikasil was applied too heavy or the surface preparation of the liner was inadequate and adhesion issues resulted, i.e., the Nikasil coating flaked off. To the best of my knowledge, this issue was resolved long ago and Nikasil on ferrous sleeves is fine to do. But call Millenium for the full story if you're interested.

Broken link removed

Interesting stuff, thanks for that.

On balance I'm still gonna go with the carbide treatment. It is not a plating, so there is zero danger of any plating coming away, it doesn't change any dimensions, and it (allegedly) creates a very hard surface. It's also comparitvely inexpensive.

It's all a tad academic for me though to be honest, Yves said he had to change the liners at 50,000km... It'll take me 10 years to do that... and new sleeves every 10 years would be the least of my challenges with regards to running a 'hot rodded' Commando !!
 
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As far as the sleeves are concerned, I've often wondered about that. There is an issue about the compatibility of the rings with the liner material. I'm inclined to believe that iron liners are better with the normal commando rings, however I've had iron liners crack in my Triumph engine. It might be better to use meehanite liners, if cast iron is a better choice. It contains calcium silicide precipitates which make it harder, or possibly a nickel bearing grade of cast iron which is much stronger again. I would be very careful about the nature of the substrate when using nicasil. I'd be discussing the failures of the process with my chosen supplier.
An alternative might be to use thin steel liners with chromium plated bores which have been reverse etched to bring up the grain structure for oiling purposes. This was used in 70s racing Yamahas on an aluminium substrate, and has been known to pick up when hammered in the two stroke motors - you should not have that problem. The piston ring composition might be a problem, Yamaha obviously know the answer.

Thanks for the photos, Jim. I've added them to my collection. Beautiful bike - I'd really love to own it. It looks the same as my own except that I think I wouldn't expect the hand grenade effect when riding it - always a worry.
What balance factor was used for the crank. I've often wondered what I would use in a Seeley framed bike on the road ?
 
WZ507 said:
Fast Eddie said:
That's brilliant feedback Yves, and very interesting reading too.

One quick point, regarding the liners in the barrels, unless I am mistaken, I do not think that Nickasil is the correct process for steel / iron liners. You might want to try Laystall Engineering in the UK who apply a carbide treatment that makes the liners super hard wearing. They can apply to used bores, and no honing etc is required afterwards. Contact Dave Kelly: dave.kelly@laystall.co.uk

Also one question for you, why did you not go to 920cc with the Maney barrels? I'm just curious as to your thinking.
In the States I've had Al cylinders with ferrous sleeves Nikasil coated by Millenium in Wisocnsin. In the earlier days I definitely heard of instances with ferrous sleeves where the Nikasil was applied too heavy or the surface preparation of the liner was inadequate and adhesion issues resulted, i.e., the Nikasil coating flaked off. To the best of my knowledge, this issue was resolved long ago and Nikasil on ferrous sleeves is fine to do. But call Millenium for the full story if you're interested.

Broken link removed

+1 on Millennium Tech
 
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Searching www for my lawn mower cast iron cylinders and Peel last year, I came across examples of bore coatings - to find those with flaking off > had tried to use the hard coatings put on thick enough to -make up for significant bore wear- were the only flake off cases, but not if merely put on thick enough for the friction/wear feature. Thin coatings can eventually wear away not flake off.
 
hobot said:
Searching www for my lawn mower cast iron cylinders and Peel last year, I came across examples of bore coatings - to find those with flaking off > had tried to use the hard coatings put on thick enough to -make up for significant bore wear- were the only flake off cases, but not if merely put on thick enough for the friction/wear feature. Thin coatings can eventually wear away not flake off.

I concur with respect to excessively thick Nikasil coatings coming off. When done properly they're solid. I believe some of the early stuff could be worn down slightly, the recent coatings are improved and appear to be pretty much bulletproof and generally good for piston, after piston, after piston, etc

Question for anybody about Boretech cylinder impregnation vs Nikasil coating. I know that to hone Nikasil one must have diamond stones, as conventional stones won't touch it. Is the same true of the Boretech impregnated surface?

And lastly, for our UK colleagues, has anyone used any of the various plating, impregnation, etc offered by Laystall in Wolverhampton, as they seem to offer it all -
Ceramic, Microchannelled Hard Chrome, Laycarb® , Silicon Carbide Impregnation, R.I. Localised SiC impregnation and texturisation, Nickel Ceramic, Nickel?

http://www.laystall.co.uk/cyl-services.php
 
The main problem with thin coatings is adhesion, I don't believe many electrodeposited coatings will stick to cast iron, and many coatings will 'double coat' if the deposition process is interrupted. Nickel coatings are probably about the worst for this. You can coat chromium onto chromium, if you reverse etch strongly between applying the second to the first coat, however it can be a bit dodgy. This has implications when you coat onto alloys (steels etc.), the differing alloys give various problems. I don't believe Nicasil is electrodeposited, I think it is probably a fusion process, however it probably still wouldn't be successful in coating cast iron for wear purposes. Cast iron is full of carbon - it is a very rubbishy material and I avoid using it. A friend of mine lost his life when the discs exploded off the front of his bike at the end of Conrod Straight at Bathurst. It was purely a materials problem. I suggest that aluminium barrels with no liners and the coating deposited straight onto the aluminium is a much better way to go, however then good maintenance is necessary, and any chips or flaking must be stoned down as it occurs. It is OK in a race motor. The strange thing about cast iron is that it ages. Some of the barrels off really old bikes are as hard as the hobs of hell when you try to rebore them.
 
With the wear situation in barrels, what you might expect is not necessarily what you get. You would expect that a very hard barrel would transfer the wear to the rings. However if you want to cut a very hard material, often a soft stone is better than a hard one. The other consideration is the lubricant properties to suit the chosen ring/barrel combination of materials. The Japanese seem to have overcome this type of problem with their motors. If you think back to the life cycle of old British cars and the modern Japanese items, the engine wear characteristics have changed dramatically.

http://www.tribology-abc.com/
 
Dang Kurt the name dropping of special coatings is confusing on its own. Reflecting back on solid state physics - coatings have both an ionic and Van derWalhs attraction to actual chemical bonding plus the impregnation of dissolved or electric charge driven into the crystal matrix causing distortion stress of chemical bonds and crystal matrix angles and also jamming into metal grain interfaces. Any who Bore tech avoids all that by just physically burnishing in their thin coat but - only after the bore finish is finalized with cross hatched texture, so no honing to tolerate or possible w/o removing the coat. Not much to see so a leap on advertising faith and their racer and industrial feedback. Trixie is all apart now so might as well treat her .020" bores before they need it and maybe get a few more ring sets use. The $350 does mean can't afford it right now so 2014 is another no Commando year for me.

A significant past expense in past Ms Peel was almost every friction surface was Dicronite'd - brand code name for Tugsten dioxide nano particle dry friction coating that was simply air sprayed on in a sand blaster hood. Pistons, pins, rod shells, crank and AMC bearings, cam and lifters and value guides. Similar crygenic tempering too. Combined may of been significant part of Peel surprise power surge once frustrating exhaust restriction figured out and solved by cordless 12 bore expanding slug. By far most the cost of these 2 treatments is the shipping cost, so best to find one near by and truck a a big lot of it there and back.


Btw this instant Seeley looks like all the maxed out Norton racers so should deliver as much thrills and tire expense and surprise moderns too.
 
The soft grey cast iron liners are indeed too soft. For alloy cylinders they would be much better with Ductile iron liners as supplied by LA sleeve. I talked to LA sleeve and they went to ductile iron which is longer lasting. In my opinion the soft grey cast iron is a mistake and alloy cylinders are still being supplied with them. I suggested that the supplier change to ductile cast iron but got no reply. Note that even the Norton factory went to harder cylinders for their racing short strokes. Todays high revving Norton cafe racers and track bikes could really benefit with a better cylinder material such a Nikasil, carbide impregnation or Ductile iron sleeves.

I've got about 20,000 miles on the lightweight pistons and there is very little wear on the cylinders if any at all (hardly even a measurable ring ridge yet) but I would still like a better life expectancy.

Racers need it more - just as the early Norton factory shortstroke racers needed it. Modern improvements have left the old grey cast iron cylinders behind.
 
I tend to agree with Jim on this one. The early alloy cylinders I used to import from England from D.R. Robertson had really poor quality cast iron liners. I replaced many of them with custom ductile iron liners from LA Sleeve, and had much better results with them. The difference in grain structure and porosity was really obvious.

For several years of racing I used one of the short stroke cylinders that Jim mentioned, that the factory had nitrided, and it never seemed to wear, until the rod broke and gouged it up a bit. Nitrided sleeves used to be pretty common in high output diesel engines. I don't know how that compares in hardness with the carbide impregnation, but both look like interesting possibilities. I never really worried that much about bore hardness in the race bikes, because they never racked up really high mileages, and got regularly rebuilt. Might be of value in high mileage street bikes. Always something new to consider as technology advances.

Ken
 
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